All about Herdwicks

 

Herdwick sheep are native to the central and western Lake District and the hardiest of all Britain's hill sheep breeds, traditionally found on England's highest mountains, up to elevations of over 3,000 feet. They have long been prized for their robust health, sturdy constitution, strong territorial instincts and resilience against the elements. They have even been known to survive under a blanket of snow for as long as three days! 

 

The word "Herdvyck", meaning sheep pasture in Old Norse, is recorded in documents dating as far back as the 12th century in Cumbria. The breed's ancestry has been traced by some to the Vikings and it is widely thought that they were first introduced to the British Isles by Norse settlers in the 10th and 11th centuries. There is another school of thought that they first swam ashore from a ship-wrecked Spanish Armada galleon. However, recent research suggests that they may have been native to the British Isles for much longer, since the very earliest settlers arrived in prehistoric times.

 

Traditionally, Lakeland Herdwicks were left to roam on the high fells and once introduced to their territory (in a process known as 'heafing') they seldom strayed from it. Their husbandry was intimately related to the largely treeless hillsides and characteristic dry-stone walls of the fells. Shepherds gathered them in, four or five times a year, for dipping, spraying, shearing, showing, mating or lambing. 

 

Today there are thought to be about 50,000 Herdwicks in England. The majority live on Lakeland farms owned by the National Trust, many of which were bequeathed by the children's author Beatrix Potter, upon her death in 1943. However, an increasing number are now commercially farmed elsewhere in the country, and Whetcombe Herdwicks is part of a growing trend to establish small, successful breeding flocks in regions such as the Derbyshire dales or on Dartmoor and its surrounding hills.

 

Herdwick lambs are generally born with black fleeces that lighten with age, from a rusty brown, through to a pale grey after their first shearing. Their heads and legs also change from black to white or pale grey. They are a   dual-purpose breed, producing a coarse wool that is uniquely thick and durable, and strongly flavoured lamb and mutton.